


Non-stop to Takodana

by shiiera



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Belligerent Sexual Tension, Ben abuses his connections to get what he wants, Cunnilingus, F/M, It's like a bad romcom except they want to kill each other, M/M, Masturbation, No mile high club here but hon hon hon, Non-Consensual Kissing, Not Beta Read, One-sided Kylux, Sexual Content, This is not funny aka my poor attempt at comedy, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:49:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7706503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiiera/pseuds/shiiera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben Organa-Solo and Rey Kenobi are flight attendants for Republic Airlines, the flagship carrier of the New Republic. Neither one of them can stand each other and try to avoid working together at all costs. One day, Ben and Rey end up working a flight together... a flight that happens to be 12 hours long.</p><p>12 hours stuck in a pressurized metal tube with the man she hates? Hopefully they'll make it to landing without killing each other first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. part i

In the airline industry, seniority ruled. It didn't matter about how good you were at your job, how well you wore your uniform, or how many trips you did in one day. The only thing that mattered was how many years of sacrifice you made to your company. Five years into the company was nothing compared to the one flight attendant that has spent the last thirty five years of his or her life in the skies serving peanuts, pouring drinks, and dealing with the occasional drunk passenger.

Seniority was a curse. It also could be a blessing.

It was a tricky game how the seniority system is played. There was the overall company ranking of seniority, then the base seniority (how many years at a certain airport), then finally there was your ranking based on your graduating class.

Yes. For some, seniority could be a blessing or a curse depending on how the cards fell.

For a certain Rey Kenobi, being the longest serving flight attendant stationed at Niima International Airport worked highly in her favor. She was only twenty-five, but she had been serving Republic Airlines since the age of eighteen when she decided that the airline industry was an escape from a dead end future at her foster father’s junkyard. That meant that out of all the flight attendants based at NIA, she held the top spot for her seven years of service.

It was something she coveted because with seniority came perks. Not awards or a name on the wall in the break room. This was beyond such trivial things. this perk was the one anyone in the industry dreamed of having: the first pick at the work-flight schedule. Control of your own _life_. If you were low in seniority, it was literal bottom of the bucket pickings. Destinations and routes people avoided for all the good reasons. Your life was literally in the hands of the company at that point.

So when Ben Organa-Solo is transferred to NIA from Coruscant International Airport, or CIA, a month ago Rey realizes that her perch on top of the totem pole at base has now been snatched away by an over confident, piece of shit asshole of a flight attendant who had only done this to spite her. No longer was Rey the top senior flight attendant at NIA. That title now belonged to a nuisance named Ben.

“ Why are you here?” Rey would ask with gritted teeth, sitting at the table on the opposite side of the room.

Ben would flop down onto the worn leather couch that adorned the crew waiting room and kick his long legs up to rest on the coffee table in front.

With a simple hum and a crossing of arms over his chest, “ I work here.”

But that wasn't the reason why. That couldn't have been because deep down Rey knew that he was enacting his revenge against her for their first encounter as trainer and trainee. They never got along; oil and water, always trying to out wit, out best, _outperform_ each other. It continued onto OJT, on the job training, when she was assigned to his routes and under his tutelage for the following two and a half weeks.

It was a long shot to get based at Niima. Her class seniority was 19 out of 19 students, meaning that the youngest never got what they wanted. Knowing her luck that meant she would be stuck at Coruscant International Airport, main hub of Republic Airlines and home to her living nightmare. But for some strange stroke of luck she got it. She ended up assigned at Niima International and that only meant one thing: no more Ben Solo.

It would be lying to say that the two never ran into each other. Whenever she had a layover in Coruscant, she was guaranteed to run into Ben. They were spurts of moments spent trying to avoid him and his insistent need to make himself known to her.

“ How's it like in the desert?” He would ask with a sly grin.

“ How's it like living in your grandfather’s shadow?” She would snap back before downing her glass of gin and tonic and retiring for the night in her hotel room.

The grandfather card. It always left him speechless, sometimes seething in his seat at the hotel bar whenever she decided to pull it out and use it against him. It was a dirty trick on her part. His grandfather started the airline nearly sixty years ago -- but his mother and uncle sold it to the government, made it a public company. Even if he had no direct ties to the company anymore, bringing up his grandfather’s legacy always struck a chord with him.

Ben had nearly six years on Rey which put him exceedingly on the top of the seniority pool at Niima. Despite the fact that Rey had top seniority based on her service for the airline coupled with her length of assignment at Niima, the only reason why any of it mattered was because Niima was considered to be a young base with an average seniority of three years (compared to Coruscant with an average of fifteen). If an longer serving employee was to transfer in anyone of a lower standing would be bumped down.

It was the rules of the game.

Only those low in seniority ended up at Niima and it was always luck. It improved chances of getting good lines (flights) for a lot of flight attendants, not to mention the chances of getting off of reserves was tremendously higher. The fact Rey managed to stay at Niima for so long baffled many; usually flight attendants would transfer out once vested in the company after five years. But she didn't mind working less than desirable routes in order to stay away from a certain Solo.

But here she was standing in front a monitor in the crew lounge seething at the schedule clearly on display for the world to see.

In indescript black letters: RA1529 NIA <-> TKD | 0830 - 2140 | P.DAM / J.PAV / R.KEN / B.SOL / …

“ Hmmm…” A low timber that sent a shiver down her spine. Smooth musky scent of an expensive cologne. “ Looks like we're spending twelve hours together.”

Rey chews on the inside of her cheek to fight off the urge to scream at man standing behind her, looking over her shoulder as if personal space did not matter. Because, really, what's not more comforting than being locked in a pressurized metal tube, thirty five thousand feet up in the air, for twelve hours with a person you absolutely hate. He was doing this to spite her. She knew it. There was no way that he ended up on this flight without pulling some sort of trick.

Because twenty-four hours ago he wasn’t even assigned to the flight. He was assigned somewhere else.

“ Takodana… _Nice_. I hear the drinks at Maz’s are to die for.” Finn says as he walks past the two flight attendants. He was a former flight attendant, who was once a former grounds op, who was then once a former janitor… Now, for some unknown reason, a copilot.

Someone obviously liked him somewhere up top.

Rey turns around, pushing Ben away from her personal space without a second thought (nearly causing the six foot three man to lose balance -- not that it mattered, perhaps he could break a leg and have to sit this flight out) and runs to Finn, grabbing both of his hands and holding them up to her chest in a plea.

“ Please, Finn, my _best_ friend. Trade shifts with me.”

It's a plea. A genuine plea. But a ridiculous one none the less. Finn pulls his hands out of her grasp and laughs.

“ You know I can't do that.” He points to his shoulder. A bar with two stripes. The markings of the copilot. “ Should have asked me two years ago.”

Rey curses under her breath.

“ But hey, look at the bright side of things, you're going to Takodana! That's a rare one for this base, y’know! I'm stuck with the Tatooine route. _Tatooine_! That's literally forty minutes total flight time. There's not even a meal service. You don’t know what I would do to actually have one of Maz’s specials.” Finn pats her shoulder in comfort but she only sighs in resignation.

“ It's only a test run.” Ben says from where he stood next to the flight schedule. “ One flight a week from here for the season. Based on performance it'll be a regular daily service.”

“ Well, thank god for the airline because with you on board I’m sure this route will be canceled before the month is up.” Rey smirks but the jab doesn’t do anything for Ben. Instead he takes a step forward, closing the distance between them and leans downward so that they’re face to face.

It would have made for a nice scene from a romantic comedy if it wasn’t for the co-pilot stuck in the middle quickly attempting to deflate the situation with hand gestures and looks of dire need of help to defuse the situation in the room.

“ Funny coming from the flight attendant that has spent the last seven years of her career doing regional flights.” A smirk. “ Flight attendants aren’t stuck in regional unless they’re complete and utter fuck ups.”

“ Hey, guys, really this isn’t the---”

“ Who’d want to work mainline and have to deal with you.” She returns the smirk. “ A rather spend thirty years working the regional lines if it meant not having to spend a single second with you.”

“ You guys shouldn’t start your trip on such a bad--”

“ Funny how the tables have turned.” He crosses his arms.

“ Oh, indeed they have. How the mighty has fallen to the regionals.” Rey raises an eyebrow. “ What, finally fallen out of the fancy of Hux’s eye?”

“ Why you little--”

“ Hey, you two, get a room.”

The two bickering flight attendants straightened to attention the moment they hear the light-hearted reprimand from someone that wasn’t Finn. They quickly step away from each other, a blush all over Rey’s freckled cheeks. Ben looks everywhere around the room except at anyone else occupying it. He tugs at his collar -- it suddenly got a bit warm. Did the air conditioner break? This was an old airport after all.

Captain Poe Dameron struts into the room with a lazy stride and smile to match. Finn sighs in relief, taking a step back and flopping lifelessly into one of the chairs that lined against the computer stations on the wall. He hunches over with arms resting on his knees. Poe walks over to the first officer and pats him on the shoulder reassuringly.

“ Be lucky you’re not stuck with these two lovebirds for the next twelve hours, kid.” He says jokingly. Finn looks up at laughs.

“ Maz’s drinks be damned, right?”

“ _Exactly_ right.” He stresses _exactly_ as if he wanted to put emphasis on the impending hell that was going to make up the next twelve hours of his life. Like he was trying to convince his young padawan learner, steer him away from the temptation that was the dark side and continue to pursue the peace and ease that was the light side of this particular situation.

Of course, there was more people assigned to the trip. It was a long haul flight across the pond on a B787. Long-hauls required larger crews to cover bigger airplanes with larger passenger counts. Usually flight crews scurried for these trips. Trading and bartering trips once assigned to get what they really want. Takodana was one of those highly sought after destinations.

Takodana was a small country in which its entire industry was based on tourism. The island’s governor was a person named Maz Kanata, who also owned one of the most well known cantinas in the New Republic. Given the small size of the island, it made sense that the owner of a popular cantina would somehow win the hearts of the people to also be the governor.

Needless to say, having to spend it with a crew that two out of six flight attendants could barely stand each other did not help. Poe was honestly surprised when he got his flight itinerary earlier in the morning. It wasn’t a secret that Rey Kenobi and Ben Organa-Solo couldn’t stand each other; their loud arguments at bars and hotel restaurants were notorious amongst the inflight crews at Republic Airlines. Rumor has it that Rey had pulled a butter knife on him once. Neither confirmed nor denied it though.

Given the fiery temper of both individuals, Poe wouldn’t have put the action past the either of them. He imagined that they’ve threatened each other with far worst things -- perhaps a butcher knife? A gun? They looked like the violent type. Honestly, he was shocked the two haven’t slept together. The unresolved sexual tension was intense.

“ They could honestly turn them into a shitty romcom.” He would mention to Finn over drinks. “ Or a really long, drawn out television show on HBO with awkward, kink sex. I definitely see Ben being a creeper hanging outside Rey’s bedroom.”

“ And it would probably break the box office or ratings.” The first officer would agree. “ Why am I flying? I need to become a screenwriter. It definitely would pay more.”

“ If those two just fucked it probably would save a lot of us the stress.”

Finn would grimace, finishing his drink with, “ Or make the situation far worse. Imagine if they broke up.”

“ Oh... _god_.”

How many conversations had the two pilots have about those two? More than they could, or want to, count. The crazy stories that they made up alone about those two could have filled up a book or two.

Now here they were on a twelve hour non-stop flight to Takodana and Poe still couldn’t figure out _why_ or _how_ Ben ended up on that flight. Twenty-four hours ago he was assigned to work a bunch of legs between Niima, Coruscant, and D’Qar and now he was on this long haul.

Something wasn’t quite adding up.

It didn’t help that the schedule didn’t reveal if he had traded his line for this one or was simply assigned it. The only thing Poe knew was that it was an unassigned A-line, or reserve spot. Low seniority flight attendants on reserve were usually called in last minute to fill these spots. High seniority flight attendants never were assigned A-line.

Unless Ben specifically pulled some strings. Which would make sense considering his actual ties to the company.

And Poe _knew_ Ben. They practically grew up together. If Ben wanted something, he got it. As he always used to joke back when they were just a bunch of immature teenagers in high school smoking cigarettes they stole from their parents behind the bleachers, _I can always take whatever I want_.

Glancing at Rey, who was adjusting her red neckscarf, Poe realized that perhaps Ben Solo did not always get what he wanted. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. Karma was a bitch.

“ Alright, guys. We’re about to push out in forty-five minutes. I’ll meet you guys on board in ten so we can have a briefing about the flight details. It’s gate B7 in case any of you forgot. Passengers should be boarding by 0800… that’s if the gate is actually on their A-game this morning.” Poe said as he flipped through his flight itinerary.  

Rey grabbed her luggage set that was resting against the wall, nearest the exit door to the ramp. It was adorned with various luggage tags that had ‘crew’ written all over them. There were pins on her actual set with various wings and other memorabilia from her travels. She walked past Ben, back stiff and with not a single glance or acknowledgement in his direction. Heels clicked loudly against the linoleum surfaced floor. She disappeared up the steps that lead towards the terminal gates.

Poe looked at Ben who was adjusting his own luggage set. His was simple; there was no bag tags or pins adorning it. Just one simple, long red tag that read in large letters, REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT, hanging from the handle of his roller. Poe crossed his arms and grinned at Ben.

“ I thought you could get anything you wanted.” He jokes. Ben ignores him as he shrugs on his jacket over his dress shirt and matching navy vest.

“ I am not interested in that child if that’s you’re implying, Dameron.” Ben said cooly. He adjusts the cuffs of his navy jacket.

Finn coughs and Ben looks directly at the first officer. He frowns at him but Finn merely looks away, whistling as he folded his fingers together in his lap, trying to pull off a feigned look of innocence. Ben buttons his jacket closed and walks towards the younger man, luggage set in tow.

“ Isn’t your captain today Phasma?” Ben asks smoothly. One of Finn’s eyebrows twitch in annoyance. Yes. Captain Phasma, ten year veteran of the airline and one of the first females in the company to gain the seat of captain on the airline’s widebody fleet.

“ Yes.”

She was highly accomplished. Flying with her would have been an honor except for one problem: Finn and Phasma didn’t get along. Maybe it was the way she carried herself or maybe it was the way he approached situations. But more than likely it was mostly due to the fact that Phasma always felt the need to call him by his employee ID number, FN-2187.

“ Enjoy your trip.” Ben says as he walks past Finn towards the stairs that lead up into the terminal gates.

And, if on cue, a tall blonde woman steps into the crew lounge from the ramp entrance. Phasma pulls the disposable earplugs from her ear and throws them into a nearby trashcan. She had just finished a FOD walk around her assigned plane for the a day, a B737-700, that was now at the gate. Even though the responsibility was on the first officer, Phasma was particular with safety and details. Probably twenty minutes before departure, Finn would have to go out there and complete another FOD walk with the ground operations crew.

With smooth strides, she approaches Finn with a clipboard in her hand.

“ FN-2187,” She begins and hands him the clipboard. “ This is the fuel report from operations. See to it that you confirm the baggage count before take off.”

Finn takes the clipboard as Phasma left him to speak with Poe. It was times like these that he wished he was higher up on the seniority list so that he could be able to pick the flights that Poe were assigned to. Those flights came far and few between the times he ended up co-piloting with Phasma.

Once Poe was finished with his discussion with Phasma, he approached Finn who was now standing and going over the paperwork. He gave him a firm pat on Finn’s shoulder.

“ How about drinks on me once I’m back.” He smiles and Finn swears he could feel the stress of the impending day leave his shoulders.

“ Yeah,” He returns the smile with one of his own, “ That sounds nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based upon [this wonderful Reylo fanart. My heart just jumped when I saw it!](https://arbutus-blossoms.tumblr.com/post/148377997221/airline-au-where-rey-and-kylo-work-as-flight)
> 
> Note: This was written as one really long one-shot but I figured it was **_too long_**. I split this story into ~~two~~  three parts... The conclusion will be posted .... probably in a few days.
> 
> I used to be a flight attendant for the regional side of a huge US airline for about three years. I couldn't pass up writing a fic about it once I saw that fanart.
> 
> FOD - Foreign Object Debris
> 
> Follow me at my [tumblr](http://t-r-a-s-h-d-u-m-p.tumblr.com/), which is just ranting and complaining about fandom lol


	2. part ii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the 12-hour trip begins.

“ You look particularly… well put together today, Solo.” Armitage Hux complemented with thinly veiled undertone of sarcasm. Ben didn’t give the Supervisor of In-flight the benefit of seeing a reaction. Instead, he looked unimpressed, leaning against the podium at gate B7 with his arms crossed.

“ Thanks, Hux.”

A well manicured eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

Passengers were already seated around the gate. Families mostly, many with young children (with some running amuck, yelling and screaming at the top of their little lungs). There were some newly wed couples -- obvious by their public displays of affection for each other. The sight alone would make the flight attendant inwardly gag. Couldn’t people take that stuff to their hotel rooms?

There was a few old, retired couples scattered about. Some looked catatonic but once the gate agent announced boarding procedures, it would seem as if God himself gave them another shock of life and they’d be quick to flock to the boarding area.

Hux returned his attention to the computer that was at the gate. He was notorious at the airline for his quick wit and no nonsense attitude towards the job. There was always a saying that those flight attendants that made it through training never make it through their first year on the lines. About forty percent of it could be blamed of the spontaneity of being on reserves but sixty percent was due to the devil known at Armitage Hux.

He was a stickler for perfection; it showed with his own appearance. He was never caught with his hair out of order, perfectly combed back and set with a wax that did not make his hair look like a shiny red helmet. His nails was always properly taken care of with a nice layer of clear nail polish to bring out the shine. His skin was milky and smooth; never a freckle or a blemish on his face.

And the uniform? He wore it like he was wearing a military uniform. Well ironed without a single wrinkle in sight. His wings were always ¼ of an inch below the pocket of his jacket. The red pocket square was always folded with precision. The shine of his shoes could probably blind a pilot if he bothered to soil them by walking on the tarmac. His airport clearance badge always sat in front of his employee badge, hanging from a red Republic Airlines lanyard that sat exactly at mid-torso.

In every way, Hux was Ben’s complete opposite. Honestly, the company was lucky that he bothered to shave. If the grooming standards were more lax, Ben would have been sporting a scruffy mustache and goatee. Not to mention his hair would be a loose, wavy mess; not pulled back into a sad excuse for a “manbun” (which usually came undone halfway into a flight).

In short, Ben’s appearance was visual eyesore to Hux. Everytime he saw him, it felt like something was crawling under his skin. The urge to just comb his hair into place or to reposition his wings was always gnawing at him. It bothered Hux to _that_ degree. It was a constant inner struggle every time they met.

“ I have no idea why you decided to call me up at three in the morning to be put on this flight,” Hux says as he types away at the computer, “ But I hope it’s not for superficial reasons.”

Hux looks up at Ben. The flight attendant is looking right back at him with a sly smile that forces the shorter man of two inches to force all his composure to not react. Ben was honestly the biggest nuisance in his life. A distraction that he couldn’t just get rid of no matter how many times he tried.

He was the grandson of the company’s founder. Ben Solo was practically untouchable.

An untouchable who was attractive, tall, beautiful, annoying ---

… Hux returns to the computer and continues working on the flight’s manifest.

“ This is a maiden voyage. Why would I honestly want to work a bunch of legs when I can go to -- what did Coruscant Times call it? The most must-visit place of 2016.”

“ Bullshit.” Hux mumbles, low enough so the passengers closest to the podium wouldn’t hear. Ben leans forward, cupping his ear and Hux can smell the cologne permeate off of his body clearly. Maker, did he absolutely hate this man.

“ What was that?” Ben godes. Hux looks up at him with a frown. If he didn’t know better, Hux could have sworn he was turning red out of frustration.

“ You’ve been to Takodana more times than I can count _this year_. Not to mention how your family is buddies with the governor. I would be lying to the world if I didn’t believe this had anything to do with a certain woman named Kenobi.”

The words that fall from Hux’s lips are cool and concise, devoid of emotional reaction Ben wanted. The flight attendant pushes himself away from the podium, tugging at the end of his jacket to fix whatever wrinkles he accumulated from leaning against it. He brushes invisible lint off the sleeves of his jacket.

“ You sound jealous.”

“ I am _not_ jealous, you insufferable twa--” A woman dressed in a floral print maxi dress approaches the podium with a ticket in hand. Hux’s expression immediately goes from annoyed to happy and welcoming in a flash. The woman hadn’t even noticed. “ How may I help you today, miss?”

She puts the ticket on the podium and slides it towards Hux. He watches as the woman’s action with mild disinterest, but still not enough for the customer to notice. He had been working in this industry way too long to know what would set off customers and how to avoid it.

“ I was wondering if I could get my seat changed… It's a window seat and I don’t do well with window seats.”

Hux takes the ticket, quickly glances at it, and hands it back to the woman. She takes it back but not without giving Hux an unimpressed look. At least he could have put some effort into looking up her seat on that damned computer.

“ I’m sorry but we’re unable to make seat changes until ten minutes prior to boarding and that’s another ten minutes from now. Please wait for the gate agent and I’m sure we can get you all squared away.” Hux gives the woman a sickeningly sweet smile that forces Ben to bite his lower lip and look upwards to avoid laughing.

“ Oh… oh… Okay.” She quickly returns to wherever she was sitting at and Hux’s face returns to his usual scowl. He checks the manifest again, moving customers around to accommodate for standbys and upgrades. Everyone had checked in at this point. Including standbys, which was good because everyone was going to be able to board this flight today.

“ Why are you here anyway?” Ben asks after a few moments of reeling in the urge of impropriety in front of a paying customer. Hux raises an eyebrow in acknowledgement but doesn’t bother to look up.

“ Maiden voyage. Need to make sure everything goes smoothly.” He hits the enter key and a dot-matrix printer located behind them starts printing the manifest. “ This airport is notorious for fucking things up.” He says under his breath.

“ A lot of that has to do with the ground crew.”

“ Ground crew. Airport crew. Inflight…. Doesn’t matter. You guys have an average departure time of fifteen minutes _behind_ schedule. That’s money down the toilet for the company.”

The manifest finishes printing and Hux rips the document from the old printer. He folds the sheets at the perforated seams. He walks away from the podium towards the locked door that lead to the jetway. Ben followed behind, his luggage in tow. With a swipe of his airport ID at the key scanner, Hux quickly opened the door and ushered Ben in, quickly following behind and shutting the door before the alarm went off.

The supervisor relaxed a bit once he heard the door’s latch lock. Away from the prying eyes of customers, Hux could finally be himself and say what was on his mind without the concern of offending a mother or some frequent flyer. Those types were usually the ones that always made it a point to complain at the first sign of impropriety.

“ Seriously, Solo, do you understand the excuse I had to make to scheduling to get you switched onto that A-line? ” Hux says with an exasperated sigh as the two walk in step down the jetway. Ben shrugs.

“ I’m sure you gave a good one.”

“ A senior flight attendant was needed.” The two stopped at the entrance to the plane. The temperature difference between the jetway and the plane was obvious at that point; the plane was nearly freezing while the jetway was sweltering from the lack of air conditioning.

Amazingly enough, Hux’s hair managed to remain in place despite the strong crossbreeze.

“ But then they asked me _why_ would this flight need someone like _you_ when we already have a senior flight attendant assigned. ”

“ The girl.”

“ Yes, you insufferable twat, the girl. And I said, because you were one of the best in this fleet. Can you believe that? Me having to be forced to say _that_ about _you._ You know A-lines are used for training experiences for new hires on reserve _._ ” He pauses for the briefest of moments, looking at Ben directly to make his point. “ I can't keep doing these favors for you.”

Hux steps inside the plane, ducking to avoid hitting his head against the low clearance of the entrance. Ben followed behind, doing exactly the same. Being tall in this industry was always an accident waiting to happen. Sometimes planes were too small to accommodate their tall heights, Ben’s head just barely touching the ceiling. Luckily, this plane was suited for taller individuals.

The redhead tossed the manifest on top of the captain's chair. “ He’ll probably get an updated manifest from the agent prior to leaving. I put a note for the agent to not bother with fucking around with the seating arrangements. Flight’s full today.” He glances out the cockpit windows at the ground crew that were working below, moving luggage carts and belt loaders. “ Knowing this station, though, I have a feeling the agent will screw things up.” He grumbles.

“ Poor lady.”

“ She can ask the guy next to her to switch.” Hux lips curled into a menacing grin. “ Or she can beg you guys to switch her seat. Customer’s totally within their rights to request seat changes during flight.”

“ I’ll refuse just on principle.”

The in-flight supervisor turns around to face Ben.

“ I wouldn’t suggest that if I were you.” Hux leaned against the back of the captain’s chair and crossed his arms. “ Wouldn’t want to have a complaint in your folder.”

“ Fuck you, Hux.”

“ You would love to.”

A silence fell between them. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the cold air blowing through the vents through the plane. It wasn’t unknown to Ben about Hux’s feelings towards him. The younger man knew that Hux had felt something for him. Years ago, he had drunkenly confessed his feelings over hard vodka before kissing him during a layover at Naboo. They were sharing a hotel room back when he was still actively flying. Ben appreciated Hux’s friendship but he simply couldn’t return those feelings in the way Hux had wanted.

It made things awkward for the first few days after that confession but they managed to overcome it… or at least, they tried to convince themselves that they did. Obviously, it was still a sore subject for the redhead.

Maybe that’s why Hux pulled all the strings he could to get Ben transferred to Niima. Maybe it was the reason why he stood up all night trying to get Ben assigned to this flight.

Who knew.

Ben clears his throat, breaking the silence that was no more than a minute or less (even though it felt longer for the two of them).

“ Thank you.”

It’s genuine. There’s no hint of sarcasm behind the two simple words of gratitude. Hux feels compelled to run his hand through his hair out of embarrassment, but that would mess up his uniform perfect hair, so he decides instead to frown at the flight attendant. The annoyance doesn’t quite meet his blue eyes and Ben knows it's more of an act than legitimate feelings.

“ I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it so I don’t have to deal with your harassment.”

Keeping the animosity between them helped Hux deal with the the reality of what he couldn’t have. It was a distraction and Ben completely understood.

The flight attendant whistles, “ Wow. This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“ Exactly, Solo.”

He’s smirking and Ben leans forward, giving Hux a pat on the shoulder before getting his luggage and walking down the narrow aisle to the crew storage at the back of the plane in order to store his belongings. Hux watches as he walks down the aisle eventually disappearing away from view. He sighs as if he was finally relieving a weight off of his chest once Ben was out of eyeshot of him.

Hux leaves the plane and returns to the gate only to be greeted by a mob of disgruntled passengers and no gate agent. He growls in frustration. He knew this was going to happen. There was no way this was not going to go off without a hitch. Niima was notoriously known for being the most incompetent hub of the company, afterall.

Hux reached for his walkie talkie that was clipped to the belt of his dress pants.

“ _Attention_ all agents, someone is needed to gate B7 _immediately._ ”

 

***

 

Poe leans against one of the first class seats with the flight manifest in his hand. Next to him stood Jessika Pava, his first officer, in the aisle. He flips through the sheets for a few moments while his crew of flight attendants stood before him waiting to be briefed on anything important such as passengers with peanut allergies or unaccompanied minors.

Well, except for Ben, who decided to sit in one of the seats with his legs crossed. Poe didn’t mind but for the twenty-five year old Rey, she wanted to kick the smugness right off his face. Why did he always act like he owned the airline? Customers had to sit in that chair and he was messing everything up.

“ We’re in good graces today because we have one unaccompanied minor.” Poe says as he handed the manifest over to Jessika. She took it wordlessly. “ No allergies or wheelchair assists.”

“ Full flight?” Rey asks.

“ Yep. Completely full. So that’ll keep things exciting for the next twelve hours. Speaking of which, flight operations sent me the itinerary and total flight time in the air is roughly twelve hours and twenty two minutes. There’s some storms out there for a good portion of the flight so expect some turbulence and keep everything locked in place so we don’t have flying food carts mid flight.”

Twelve hours and twenty two minutes. What? No… that’s not right. Rey swore that the in-air time was only eleven hours and fifty minutes. She looks at Ben from the corner of her eye and wants to cry. This was not fair at all. Who set this trip from hell up anyway? How was this _possible_?

Poe catches Rey looking at Ben and chuckles. Oh, this was going to be a great flight.

“ And now assignments.” The pilot pulls out a notepad from his back pocket and begins to read from it.  “ Rey is going to be our lead for today. She’ll be working the main cabin with Ben. ”

_What?!_

“ … along with Susan and Amanda. First and Business will be handled by John and Mary.” Poe sticks the notepad back in the back pocket of his black slacks. “ Any questions? Well, if there isn’t any questions let’s start getting this flight prepped.”

No, no, no, no. This was honestly a fluke. A mistake. A joke. Yes, that was what this all was; a really, bad and distasteful joke and all Rey had to do was talk with Poe privately about this and everything would be fixed and she could actually enjoy some part of this trip.

Yes. That was it.

Her team of flight attendants headed to their assigned stations while she stood at seat 2B, unable to move her legs. She was completely frozen in shock -- in complete _disbelief_.

“ Isn’t that weird? Not only are we assigned to the same flight we have to work _together_ for the next twelve hours.”

Ben. _Fucking_. Organa-Solo. He was standing next to her, hands shoved into the pockets of his pants and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. She looked up at him, hazel eyes filled with absolute disdain.

“ You son of a--- I… I refuse! _Refuse_ to work with _you_. All I need to do is talk to Poe and he’ll fix this… mess.” She spat, loud enough for only Ben to hear. He chuckled.

“ Good luck.”

He left her to her own devices. Rey suddenly found the strength to move her legs and practically stormed to the cockpit. A knock on the opened door and the two pilots looked up from where they sat. Poe removed his headset and rested his arm on the back of his chair. He gave her his signature lazy smile and Rey couldn’t help that there was more behind that smile than she knew about.

“ I can’t work with him. You know this, Poe.”

Poe nods, unfazed by the flight attendant's obvious frustration.  “ Yeah. I do. Everyone does actually.” He actually was amused by it.

“ So why would you assign us together if everyone knows that we can’t work together?”

This time Jessika takes off her headset. “ It wasn’t us, Rey. It was inflight.”

“ Inflight?” Rey brain screeched to a halt. Nothing was making any sense.

“ Yeah.” Poe confirms, lacing his fingers together. “ Straight from command. I can’t really fight with command. Besides, it makes sense. Had Ben not be reassigned to this flight, whoever would have had his position would have been working with you. Ben is just filling in an empty spot.” Poe reaches for his headset and puts it back on, adjusting the mic over his mouth. He turned around in his chair. “ Try to put away your personal feelings and focus on the job. You’re the lead on the flight.”

“ It’s not that bad, Rey.” Jessika adds this time with a smile. “ I’m sure you two can work through whatever differences you may have.”

Rey sighs in resignation to the reality of the situation. Wordlessly, she leaves the cockpit and works her way up to the main cabin galley located at the back of the plane. Ben was having a discussion with Amanda and Susan about something Rey could have cared less about. Something about Takodana and nice beaches or whatever. It wasn’t important to Rey at that moment. What was important was establishing her position as flight lead and making sure everyone knew what they were doing for the next twelve hours. She cleared her throat and the conversation ended. Ben, who was leaning against the back counter of the galley, crossed his arms.

“ Did you know that this is going to be the first time for Amanda?” Ben asked nonchalantly. Amanda smiles in his direction, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She was obviously smitten.

“ First time for…?”

“ Visiting Takodana! I’ve always wanted to go there and now I get to work a flight there! Niima isn’t known for these big flights, you know? We’re always doing regional stuff.” Amanda says, never turning her attention away from the tall male flight attendant next to her. Rey doesn’t look impressed, in fact, she’s sort of annoyed but neither of that was important at the current moment. The passengers were slated to board in less than five minutes.

“ Ah.” Rey tugs at the end of her jacket. “ Well, it’s really nice and I like that enthusiasm and hope you all apply that to this flight.”

Amanda’s smile quickly falls. For the briefest of moments Rey felt sort of sorry but once her eyes fell upon Ben again she was reminded of why she was in a sour mood. It honestly wasn’t against Amanda’s excitement for the trip. She was a new hire, finally completing her first year of flight attending without an major issues, and now assigned to her first international trip. Who wouldn’t be excited?

It was all Ben’s fault. Everything was his fault. If Amanda has a bad experience, Rey will blame Ben for it. If a baby cries on the flight, Rey will blame Ben for it. If the drinks are terrible at Maz’s -- well, you get the point.

“ What shall we be doing then, Rey?” Ben asks.

“ For starters, we need to set the coffee for brewing once we’re in the air. Amanda, can you set the coffee for this galley? Sarah, I need you to check the seats and make sure they’re presentable for the customers. Make sure that the seat belts are crisscrossed and that each seat pocket has a menu and that magazine.” She pauses. “ Ben… Can you start the prep for the premium economy galley?”

Less than four minutes before the passengers would start to board. Rey leaves the three flight attendants behind and rushes down the aisle to the first class galley. There she gave John and Mary pre-flight instructions on setting up the first and business class cabins.

“ Oh, you two are amazing.” Rey says once she notices that they had already began pouring champagne and orange juice for the passengers in that section. “ Water bottles been distributed yet?”

“ Already waiting on the armrests.” John says as he popped open another bottle of champagne. “ Don’t worry, Rey. We got this.”

Rey smiles and mouths thank you. She looks at her wristwatch -- less than two minutes before the hounds would be released. First would be the pre-boarders, though that would need assistance on board. Second by the elite flyers and then followed by everyone else. She needed someone waiting at the plane’s entrance for the passengers and she couldn’t pull them from the premium cabin.

With the two newbies in the back the only other option was Ben.

She quickly walks to the premium economy galley and pushes the curtain aside with much force than she usually would. Of course, it doesn’t shock Ben who was busy setting up the galley. With the way she was stomping around the plane, he could have heard her a million miles away. She wasn’t the most discreet person on board.

The smell of coffee being brewed could be smelled throughout the galley; it was a nice smell. Warm and comforting. It sort of settled her nerves. Keywords being sort of. Rey made a mental note to pour herself a cup once the plane reached ten thousand feet. She had a feeling she was going to be drinking a lot of cups to keep her nerves intact for the rest of this trip.

The flight attendant steps into the galley and closes the curtain behind her with a snap.

“ I need someone at the door to greet passengers with me.” She says, words flying out of her mouth quicker than she  had anticipated. Ben pushes a food cart back into place and locks it.

“ Okay.”

Well, that went alot smoother than she expected.

“ Okay?”

A little _too_ smooth. Usually he would snap at her about seniority and respecting her superiors.

“ What? You expected me to turn that into an argument?” He scoffs. “ Don’t think so lowly of me, Rey. I was the one who taught you how to even do this job.”

He leaves the flight lead behind with her mouth agape. Well, there goes the retort she was expecting. And despite having known it would come from him, it still didn't stop her from throwing a little fit in the privacy of the galley. Her fingers curled into fists at her side as she hopped in place to fight back the urge to scream. Three hops and a two deep breaths, Rey emerges from the galley and quickly returns to the door that was situated between first and business class.

Ben was already standing at the door, hands folded behind his back. Looking all the role as a professional flight attendant who worked for the flagship carrier of the nation. He definitely wore his uniform well. Not to the degree that Hux wore his, which was borderline obsessive, but he still wore it with pride. Why wouldn’t he? It was a visual representation of the sacrifices his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, made to start this airline.

If there was one thing that Rey liked about him, it would have be his dedication to the company. It was more than being a flight attendant for Ben Solo; it was about keeping a family legacy alive. He always gave his full attention to his job. Nothing was ever left unturned; he always made it a point that when a customer boarded a flight he worked on, they left with a bigger smile and if they were upset prior to the flight, he made it his mission to make sure they left happy.

Even if she refused to admit it to his face, Rey was appreciative of the fact that he was her teacher during her training as a flight attendant. She probably wouldn’t have made it this far without the skills he had passed on to her.

A young child, probably no older than seven, is running down the jetway with a teddy bear clutched under his right arm, his bookbag dragging across the floor held by his left. An agent is chasing after the child, but he pays the woman no mind. His adrenaline is on an all time high and all he can focus is being on the plane.

Ben immediately kneels down just before the boy can jump into the plane, holding his hands out in a mock gesture of blocking the entrance. “ Whoa, there!”

The boy nearly skids to a halt. Trailing behind is the gate agent with the boy’s ticket and a pink tag that had his name and emergency contact information written on it. She’s nearly out of breath when she finally arrives, handing Rey the paperwork as Ben remains kneeling in front of the boy with his hands on his knees.

“ His mother should be picking him up at the gate upon arrival.” The agent says in between breaths. Rey nods in acknowledgement; she glances at the boy’s ticket.

“ Oh, he’ll be with Ben on this flight.” Rey says and looks down at the two. Ben held his hand up and the boy gives him a high five. She swears she’s dreaming, but her heart does a flip at the sight. “ 16A, by the window. That’s right in front of his jumpseat so that’s good. He’s in good hands.”

Ben looks up at Rey but she doesn’t notice.

“ Apparently his father told me this isn’t the first time he’s done flights like this so he doesn’t think there’ll be any problems on the way there. He does like planes so maybe you can pass on word to the captain for a tour of the cockpit or something once you’ve landed.” She smiles sheepishly. “ I sort of promised him that the captain would if he’d be nice to you all for the duration of the flight.”

“ I don’t see the captain having a problem. Thank you, Laura.”

Laura waves goodbye to the boy and he waves in return with the arm of his teddy bear. She scurries back up the jetway to prepare for the next wave of passengers. Ben stands up and shakes some feeling back into his long legs.

“ How about we find your seat?” He suggests to the little boy. He looks at Rey and smirks. “ This here is Rey. She’s the boss of this flight. She’s very mean so don’t do anything bad, okay?”

Oh. This guy definitely had a way with killing a moment. Rey shoves the child’s information into Ben’s hands.

“ I’m Rey,” She begins, kneeling down to the child’s height. “ I’m not mean. I’m actually really nice. He’s just a really bad person who likes to make up lies about very pretty girls like myself.”

Ben laughs, “ Don’t confuse him or lower his expectations in life. “

“ Shut up.” She stands up. “ Now Mister Solo is going to take you to your seat. Welcome aboard…”

“ Jamie.”  

Rey’s smile falters just for a moment, enough for Ben to snort. “ … Jamie.”

 

***

 

Luckily for the crew the boarding process went pretty smoothly. Everyone managed to be seated and secured within a decent time of twenty seven minutes. Now they were waiting on the ground crew to finish things out on the outside and deliver the final luggage numbers to Poe and Jessika in the cockpit.

Ben and Rey were working in the galley, checking to see if certain food items were stocked and carts were locked. For the most part, they worked in amicable silence, for two entirely different reasons. Rey didn’t want to engage him in conversation and Ben simply considered pre-flight preparation a part of the flight that required full attention. The horror stories he heard, and later retold during training classes, about flying food carts causing serious damage to the plane, the crew, and passengers were enough to instill some self control and responsibility.

Rey glances at her wrist watch. “ We’re about to push. Make sure the coffee’s dumped.”

Ben is standing next to her, holding the pot of coffee with a raised eyebrow. It would have been funny had she not realized that he was already a step ahead of her. Then again, why wouldn’t he be? He was the teacher, she was the student. Ben was _always_ a step ahead. Rey slightly blushes from embarrassment and quickly steps out of the galley.

He wordlessly dumps the coffee down the drain with a shake of his head. Sometimes she needed to just let loose.

It takes another thirty minutes before they’re finally in the sky and on their way to Takodana. Fifteen minutes later the seatbelt sign is turned off, and the sound of people rushing to the bathroom could be heard as seat belts simultaneously are released. Nearly an hour later and the first snack service begins throughout the cabin.

It goes smoothly, with Rey working one side of the cabin and Ben on the other. She occasionally looks over and observes how meticulous he is with pouring and serving drinks. The cup is filled with ice to the mid way point, indicated by the start of the airline’s logo. Then he opens up a can of soda, pouring until the drink is about a quarter inch away from the rim.

He hands the drink to the passenger: left hand holding the cup while the right hand carefully cradles the bottom to avoid spillage.

For someone that was so erratic with his mouth and overall attitude, the dedication to service was impeccable to the young woman.

Rey catches the thought before it got any further. He was still an insufferable asshole and absolutely hell to be around. If only these _women_ sitting on this flight could understand that their hot male flight attendant was a sociopath they'd stop smiling or giving him bedroom eyes or giggling whenever their fingertips brushed.

The flight lead nearly slams the cart back into its storage slot at the frustrating thought once she was doing serving the snack service. Thankfully the loud air conditioning coupled with the rumble of the plane's engines covered up much of the banging from the customers.

“ I'm going crazy.” Rey says to herself as she leans against the counter of the galley. “ He’s driving me crazy.”

Because, to her, it was crazy to think that she was jealous of the attention he was receiving.

 

***

 

It's a few hours into the trip, roughly three, and the cabin is nearly silent save for a few quiet conversations. People are either sleeping or watching movies on their personal entertainment systems. Rey is sitting in her jump seat next to the exit door reading a book.

“ You're into engineering?”

Rey looks up from her book and at the source of the question.

Ben Solo.

“ Yeah.” She closes the book, not before marking the page with a slight crease. “ Why?”

“ Nothing. Didn't know you were into that stuff.”

Rey looks around Ben, at the opposite side of the cabin where the little boy was now sleeping. He was covered in blankets, his teddy bear clutched in his arms. She smiles slightly at the scene -- it was adorable.

“ How'd you calm him down?” She asks, attempting to keep the conversation off of her and to more civil territory. He puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs.

“ We talked a bit. Told him some stories about flying planes until he got tired.” His demeanor slightly changes to something mellow, if not strained. “ His parents are separated. He has to go between them every few weeks on visits. He says it doesn't bother him because he gets to ride on a plane but I can tell he’d rather his parents together.”

Rey looks at Ben. “ I'm sorry.”

“ For what?”

“ For the child. It must be hard.”

Ben chuckles bitterly. “ He's too young to realize what's going on. He’ll eventually figure it out though. We always do.” He runs a hand through his hair, further loosing the band that held it back away from his face. A few strands fell loose, framing his face. “ He's a lot braver than I was at his age.”

Rey stands up. “ We need to start on getting the dinners ready.”

A change of conversation was always good. Especially when she didn't want to get personal with the man she (sort of) hated. Ben nods and follows her to back to the galley.

Once in the galley, Rey puts her book away in one of the empty snack chests. She shuts and locks the chest.

“  Do you always hide books where they don't belong?” Ben asks as he kneels down to open up a food cart loaded with the dinners. Rey rolls her eyes as she sets up the convection oven.

“ Can you fix your hair? Your hair tie is about to fall out.”

With a groan of annoyance, Ben reaches behind his head and pulls the hair tie out, letting it rest on his left wrist. Thick black locks of wavy hair tumble free, framing his face in a way that makes Rey suck in a breath. Maker, was he attractive with his hair loose like that. She sort of felt this compelling her to run her hands through it. She didn't even realize it was that _long_.

He pulls his hair back and holds it in place with his right hand, then he brings his left wrist to his mouth to pull the hair tie up his hand with his teeth. He begins to tie his hair back effortlessly, all the while not noticing how Rey stood and watched him like a teenager watching their favorite idol. He tugs on it a few times to keep the tie in place then looks up at her.

Rey quickly catches herself but Ben had noticed and smirks.

“ Better?”

“ Much better.” She clears her throat. “ Thank you for meeting dress code standards.”

“ Whatever you say, Miss Kenobi.”

“ Don't call me that.”

Ben stands up and shrugs off his jacket leaving him in his dress shirt and the fitted navy vest. Knowing that Rey would probably jump at the opportunity to complain, Ben holds his the jacket up.

“ I don't work the meal service in my jacket.”

“Bu-”

“Ah!”

A jacket flies up in defense, cutting her off before she could get a word in.

“You can’t-!”

Once again, the navy object is held out like a lawyer demanding an objection.

“Ah…!”

Rey opens her mouth again to protest but he cuts her off with another raise of his jacket. She looks offended and he can’t help but find it absolutely adorable.

“ Nope. I can go with or without the jacket because I have the vest. Page two. Look it up.”

Ben steps out the galley and Rey mentally screams at his audacity to bring up the company manual. _Page two, look it up?!_

For all the rare moments of humanity he managed to scrounge up, there were about a lifetime’s worth of arrogance. Ben Solo didn't simply work with people, no, he always had to assert himself as one in control. He needed to show dominance. He needed to let the room know that, at the end of it all, he was the one in control.

It reminded her of all those days stuck in training with him breathing down her back. If she outsmarted him even once, he made it a point to make an example out of her before the day was through. The next day, she would exact her revenge and he would follow up with his counter attack. A never ending cycle of vicious (if not childish) payback after payback.

Maybe that’s why they couldn’t get along. They were too much more alike than they were different.

It's a few more minutes before Ben is back in the galley, his jacket now hung up in the back storage closet for crew members. Rey is already heating up meals in the oven with an obvious frown on her face.

“ We honestly don't have much time to get these meals ready.” Rey mumbles, putting a hot tray into the food cart. She doesn’t bother to look up at him, (attempting to be) too focused on the task at hand.

“ We have a good forty minutes to prep.” Ben says matter of fact. She rolls her eyes as she pulls out a cold tray.

“ Can you just get the trays out so I can heat these meals up?”

“Yes, Empress Rey.”

She bristles, “ Don't call me that.”

“ How about Queen Rey?”

“ How about you just do your job?”

The two are standing face to face in the small galley. One visibly annoyed while the other was genuinely enjoying the reaction to his goading.

“ I-”

The plane shook. It was slight turbulence, nothing dramatic, but turbulence none the less. Two dings, of alternating pitch, ring through the cabin. The captain was calling. Rey hands to Ben the cold tray of food (or rather she shoved the tray at him). He takes it wordlessly into his own hands as she scurried out the galley to answer the phone next to her jump seat.

“ Yes, captain?” Rey answered. Another shake, but barely noticeable.

“ Ah, Rey! Nice to hear your wonderful cheery voice this evening. The sunset is absolutely gorgeous.”

Poe, ever the mood maker. She can't help but chuckle in relief.

“ I'm about to turn on the seatbelt sign because we're about to head into some few rough patches here. Can you, uh, make an announcement to get the fine folks back in their seats?”

“ Yeah, sure.”

“ Perfect.”

He hangs up. Rey presses a button on the receiver, switching into the PA system. As if on cue, the seatbelt sign turns on throughout the cabin.

“ The captain has now turned on the seatbelt sign. Please remain in your seats with the seatbelt fasten until the seatbelt sign has turned off. Thank you.”

The plane shakes again, this time a little stronger than the last time. Passengers who were up scurry back to their seats while others fasten their seatbelts. It's not soon after that Poe’s voice could be heard throughout the cabin making an announcement about the incoming turbulence.

“ Do you want to continue preparing these dinners now or after the rough patch?” Ben asks once Rey is back in the galley. She looks at the open food cart with the trays of food and chews on her lower lip in thought. It was something she did out of habit.

“ Let's see how far we can get. I don't think it's going to be that bad.” Rey says walking over to the oven. She reaches for the handle to the oven….

…. Suddenly the plane jolts _hard_ and Rey falls backwards against the counter on the opposite side of the narrow galley. Ben falls forward, trapping her beneath him. He braces the impact with his two hands against the edge of the metal counter, each on either side of Rey. The plane shakes again and Rey grabs on to Ben’s biceps to steady herself against the turbulence.

She can hear herself breathing. She can hear how loud her heart is thumping against her chest, the way the blood is pulsing in her ears. He’s too close for comfort and she finds it hard to look up at him. Rey can smell his cologne; the expensive brand he always uses that manages to last hours, even after a long day. It's almost intoxicating to have all her senses consumed with _him_.

Rey knows he’s looking at her; she can feel it. She slowly releases her fingers from his arms and adjusts herself to stand up straighter but another violent shake of the plane pushes him closer. She can almost feel his body pressed up against her own and, _Maker_ , does she want to just collapse into him then and there. He’s practically pinning her to the counter behind. She can feel the rounded steal edge digging into the small of her back. Rey hesitantly looks up and meets the dark gaze of Ben looking down at her.

“ W-we need to secure the carts.” She whispers as she grasps a hold of the counter behind her to support herself. She licks her dry lips.

Ben leans forward, slightly at first, as if he’s trying to test the waters... like he was trying to read her. A breath hitches in Rey’s throat once she feels his breath against her own skin.

He was going to kiss her. The person she practically hated with all of her being was now going to kiss her. Rather than fight him off, Rey was standing pinned between him and the carts full of cookies and potato chips with a heat beginning to pool between her legs and a pulsing that made her squeeze her thighs together in a vain attempt to keep her arousal at bay.

His lips are hovering only mere inches away from hers. “ We should, shouldn’t we…” He whispers as his face dips between the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The low timbre of his voice nearly does her in. Rey bites her lip and looks up at the ceiling.

He was going to break her. He was _trying_ to break her.

“ Ben…” Was that a whine? No, it couldn’t have been.

He lightly ghosts his lips across her cheek, to the side of her lips. One arm slowly wraps around her waist and he pulls her flush against him. Rey pulls away, enough to look at him… enough so she could count every freckle and beauty mark on his face. Enough so she could notice that his lips were slightly chapped from the dry air of the cabin. Enough so she could see the obvious hunger, _lust_ he had for her, in his brown eyes.

She opens her mouth but his lips ghost against hers ever so slightly.

“ I know...” He murmurs against her lips. “ I feel it too.”

 _Oh_.

She can’t think. The only thing she can compute at that moment was how soft his lips were against her own. His lips slowly moved against her own but she can’t get herself to respond. This… wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. Not _again_. She swore to herself that she wouldn’t allow herself to get caught up in his web again. He was only trouble for her.

The mid ship galley was tight and narrow. It was a place to work; prepare drinks and meals. It wasn’t the place for two employees to be caught in a compromising position. The only thing separating them from the rest of the ship were two flimsy curtains that swayed open with the occasional passerby. If anyone wanted to, they could simply wander in and catch them. Rey didn’t want to get caught in a situation like this -- have her near perfect record damaged…

… her integrity as an employee compromised because of what, _who_ , he was.

And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t push back the attraction she harbored for him. She _did_ admired him. She _was_ jealous of other women pining for his attention.

He was going to be the end of her.

Another jolt forces them apart. The kiss was chaste but the build up was enough to have them nearly breathless. Rey licks her lips again and looks downward as Ben removes his arm from around her waist. He reluctantly pulls away, stepping back a step or two to put distance between them. Rey brings a shaky hand to her mouth.

They’re silent for a couple of minutes, but it feels like an eternity. He’s still looking at her and she’s looking at the floor.

“ Lock up the carts.” Rey says with a slight strain to her voice as she removed her hand from her mouth. “ We’ll finish this once… once we get past this turbulence.”

Rey quickly leaves Ben behind in the galley. He takes a deep breath and exhales. That ended… a lot better than he had thought. Then again, he didn’t expect to actually do _that_ either. It was a bold move on his part, something he wouldn’t have done unless he was completely drunk or if he knew that the feelings were mutual. Ben would have been lying if he didn’t admit to his heartbeat racing as if he had just ran a marathon the moment he decided to be bold and act upon his pent up emotions.

He rubs his chin as he contemplated the situation. It managed to confirm one thing for the flight attendant: Rey Kenobi didn’t hate him as much as he had originally thought. If they had more time, she probably would have kissed him back.

 

Rey rushes to the bathroom located in first class, near the cockpit, and locks the door behind her. She leans against the flimsy door and looks over to her right, to her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a mess of fly aways framing her face that had came loose from the bun. Her face was completely flushed, obviously from the experience she had shared with Ben not even three minutes earlier.

She pushes herself off the door and stands in front of the mirror properly. Slowly, she undoes her bun, allowing her hair to fall free and loose. She runs the water in the sink, wetting her fingers just enough to run them through her hair to dampen and tame the flyaways as she redid her bun. She needed to touch up her makeup but that could be saved for later. The plane was dark anyway, it wasn't as if anyone could get a good clear view of her face.

Unless of course they were literally pressed against her, assaulting every sense of her body.

The flight attendant groans.

She gives herself another few moments before stepping out of the bathroom. John looks at her with concern as he sees her step out.

“ You okay?” He asks sincerely. Rey smiles.

“ Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit queasy that's all. Didn't eat much today.” She lies but John buys it and returns to preparing the meals for the first class cabin.

Rey reaches for the phone that was set up next to the jump seat in that cabin. She calls directly into the rear galley.

“ Amanda? Hey, do you mind working premium economy with Ben?” There's a squeak, or was it a squeal? Rey couldn't tell, but it was enough for her to pull the receiver away from her ear. “ I will take that as a yes… No, nothing's wrong. I just want to switch positions. Yeah, you can head over there now. Just let Susan know. Thanks.” Rey hangs up the phone.

 

***

 

Working in the back with Susan helped with making the hours fly by faster than when she was working the mid-cabin with Ben. The sexual tension, because that’s exactly what it was (even if Rey tried to deny it), was no longer a distraction for her. She could focus on providing customers with the best service the airline could provide as well as keeping up with the safety checks to make sure everyone had a safe flight.

Occasionally she would glance over, down the aisle, towards the mid-cabin and watch how Amanda and Ben worked together. She didn’t feel a tinge of jealousy, but there was this gnawing urge at the back of her mind to call Amanda back so she could finish the trip with him. It was only fleeting, enough so that she would continue her conversations with Susan and the younger woman not notice the obvious glances made towards a certain male flight attendant.

Ben didn’t even question her on the switch, which was odd to her. Usually he would jump at the opportunity to challenge her but he simply shrugged his shoulders and continued preparing the meals as if nothing had happened. As if he didn’t completely have her pinned underneath him and kissed her.

The flight continued smoothly without hiccups, landing perfectly at Takodana International ten minutes ahead of schedule. Poe commented on the cabin-wide PA that a good tail wind gave them a much needed push for an early arrival. Followed up by a request for a high-five from his first officer Jessika, which prompted a few laughs from the passengers on the plane.

With everyone off the plane, Poe and Jessika emerge from the cockpit. Poe stretches and leans against one of the first class seats.

“ I’d like to congratulate my crew on an awesome flight today. I could tell our passengers were _absolutely_ pleased with the service.” He says with a grin. “ So, anything exciting happened that I didn’t know about during the flight?”

Everyone shakes their heads but Poe is looking directly at Rey with a raised eyebrow.

She crosses her arms, “ No, Poe. Nothing happened.”

He lifts a hand, index and middle fingers extended out towards Ben and Rey. “ Nothing happened. No fights. Anything?”

“ Nothing.”

Susan laughs, “ Surprisingly amicable all the way through.”

Poe claps. “ Amazing. I think we just made history with this flight.” Jessika rolls her eyes. “ Okay, guys. We’ll be meeting at arrivals to catch our shuttle to the hotel. Everything should be arranged according to inflight.”

“ Are we sharing rooms this time?” John asks. Poe shakes his head.

“ Naw. Individual rooms this time! So see you guys over at arrivals.”

Everyone moves about the cabin, grabbing their luggage sets and personal belongings. They deplane and Rey is almost down the jetway before she feels something tapping her on the head. She stops and turns around to face Ben. He has his jacket on again, buttoned up, but the thing that stands out the most is that he was holding her book on engineering.

“ You almost forgot this in the snack case.” He remarks rather lamely. She takes the book from him.

“ Thank you.”

Their crewmembers have already left the jetway.

“ I apologize for earlier. That was completely inappropriate of me.” Ben suddenly blurts out in a rush of words. Rey blinks as she tucks the book into her purse. There’s a brief silence and the only thing that could be heard was planes taking off and the sound of ground equipment. “ If you don’t mind, I’d like to--”

Rey narrows her eyes at him. “ Like to what?”

“ Drinks at Maz’s?” He rocks on the balls of his feet. “ You don’t mind?”

He wants to lean over and kiss her. Just a simple kiss on her pink lips but instead he fumbles around like a nervous high schooler asking the most popular girl in school out to the dance. Rey looks like she wants to punch him in the face but that’s because she wants to actually wants him to invite her for drinks and not fumble around like some teenaged _boy_. The shame of attraction only fueled her frustration even further.

A ramp agent enters the jetway from the side door that lead down to the ramp. He looks at the two flight attendants for a few moments and then quietly steps back outside to not disturb whatever conversation they had. The door closes softly and faintly you could hear his failed attempts at tip-toeing down the metal steps.

Rey sighs. “ If this is the way you ask coworkers for drinks…”

“ How about eleven?”

“ How about I just text you when?” She reaches into her black purse for her smartphone. “ It’s the same number, right? The 892 one?”

“ Yeah. That’s it.”

“ Got it. Well, I don’t think the bus is going to be waiting for us.”

Rey walks away, a lot quicker than she usually did. Ben watched as her figure disappeared around the corner. If he wasn’t hallucinating, he swore he saw a small smile on her face as she rounded the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is way too long. It is now three parts. Last part will be posted tomorrow where our heroes finally resolve that sexual tension. Hon hon hon.
> 
> Yes. That was some serious emo one-sided Kylux. Poor Hux... But he wants Ben to be happy so yay for that!
> 
> I had to chop a lot out of this part and try to keep the plot focused without getting boring with all the job stuff. 12 hour flights are seriously uneventful. 
> 
> I am sorry for not replying to comments! I usually do but I've been pretty busy with real world stuff. I truly appreciate everyone's comments and kudos for this story! It keeps me writing! *･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*


	3. final part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey finally get to the bottom to their relationship problems.
> 
> warning: please take note of the rating bump from mature to explicit

He flops down on the bed like a dead weight. His body is stiff from being trapped in a small space for nearly twelve whole hours, save from the few occasional bathroom breaks he had requested. And even those required a bunch of hoop jumping with the increase in security concerns for the flight crew. It was still rewarding for him; he loved being in control of such a large machine, seeing happy and satisfied faces when the passengers deplaned, and working with great crews.

With the late-night arrival, the roads of Takodana were pretty clear and the crew managed to get to the hotel within reasonable time. Ten minutes compared to the almost a half hour it usually would have taken if they had arrived just a few hours earlier. Some of his crew had decided to go out to eat and explore whatever was left open. He just wanted to get to his room as soon as possible.

Poe reaches into the pocket of his dress pants and pulls out his smartphone. He rolls onto his back and holds his phone up, flipping through his address book until finds the name he’s looking for. He taps on the FaceTime option and waits for the other person to answer. Poe makes a face at his reflection in the screen of the phone. Maker, did he look a mess… and just to think he had an early day tomorrow morning on the return flight back to Niima.

A few rings and a familiar face greets him. Poe smiles; not any of his lazy playful ones that he would show off to his coworkers. This one is genuine, full of warmth.

“ Hey you.” Poe says as he reaches to undo his tie.

“ Nothing much.” Finn smiles. “ Long day. Eight round trips all together.”

“ FN-2187, did you prepare the weight calculations?” Poe laughs in his best imitation of Phasma. Finn rolls his eyes.

“ Please, spare me. I already had to spend ten hours of my day with that mad-woman.”  Finn scratches behind his ear. “ I learned something new today. Apparently she refers to everyone by their employee ID.”

Poe’s eyebrows go up in mild interest. “ Really?”

“ Yep. I swear, it’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.” Poe frowns his face similar to Phasma’s infamous one. “ FN-3202, I see that we short on cookies in the front galley. FN-1772, why is your neckscarf tied on the right side and not on the left side?”

“ Wow… You definitely have her accent down. You sound like a natural.”

Finn laughs for a few seconds then sighs. “ I have a lot of time to practice. Nearly two months….”

“ Aw, look at the bright side. Next month is a new schedule which could mean new possibilities.”

Finn is unimpressed. “ Easy for you to say. I would be lucky if I got anything more than an hour.”

Poe pulls the red tie from his neck, tossing it somewhere in the room, and works on the buttons of his shirt. Finn swallows. “ Look at it as well deserved flight hours.”

“ It’s hard to focus on this work related conversation with you stripping.”

Poe laughs as he sits up. “ You know you like this.”

“ I love the idea to spend more time with you _in person_ than this video chat stuff.” Poe shrugs off his shirt, revealing a white wife beater that clinged to his body in certain places that makes the man on the other side of the conversation bite his lower lip. “ … Maybe you can … Do something to convincing and get me on a few flights….”

“ That involves making Hux fall in love with me and given his taste in men, I definitely do not meet those requirements.”

Finn laughs as he adjusts himself on the couch he was sitting on. He props one of his legs up on the cushion. “ So it is true. Hux was the one that got Ben on that flight.”

“ It’s a _rumor_. I don’t want to confirm _anything_. But…. I could try, though. I don’t know if Hux would appreciate it. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve...” Poe says it as if he’s actually contemplating seducing the Inflight Supervisor. Finn clears his throat.

“ Please don’t consider any of that. ”

“ I could show him the snack storage room at Niima…” Poe smirks and Finn’s face is burning from embarrassment.

“ Please, maker. D-don’t… Don’t even bring that one up.”

Finn was about to board his flight; it was his fifth as a newly hired first officer. It was also his first day with the infamous Captain Phasma and Poe decided that he needed to talk with him. Give him a few pointers, you know, the usual. Unwind and get him ready for the flight.

Well, that is what Poe said in front of everyone when he pulled Finn aside. What actually happened involved Finn pressed up a stack of Coca-Cola cases, his fingers lost in Poe’s wavy hair as his mouth worked a magic that made Finn bite his lip and break the skin when he came to keep from yelling out. The room could barely fit on person, let alone two, and the door wasn’t known for having a good lock. Poe had a crate of chocolate chip cookies pressed against it to keep it shut but every little jerk caused the crate to bump against the loose door.

Unwind? Finn was on edge that entire flight. Even to this day, he can’t look at that closet without imagining Poe sucking him off in the most obscene way burned into his mind’s eye.

No. That _definitely_ was not happening wit Hux.

Finn adjusts his position on the couch to something more comfortable. “ So, how are we gonna do this?”

“ I was thinking of keeping it simple, you know?” Poe says nonchalant as he unzips his pants. “ We could probably say a few dirty things to each other. Spice it up.”

“ Oh, man. How sexy. I feel hot already from the enthusiasm.” It’s dry sarcasm.

“ Where are you anyway?”

“ Hotel in Coruscant.”

“ Me too.” Poe starts to shrug out his pants. “ Sharing?”

“ Yeah. He’s not going to be back for at least an hour.” Finn puts the phone down and Poe can see nothing but the hotel room’s ceiling. “ Yeah, he’s gone.” Finn’s voice sounds far and faded.

“ That sucks. Guess we’re gonna have to make this one quick.” Poe kicks off his pants and puts the phone on top of the bedside table. He props it up against the lamp so Finn could get a better view. The video on the other side shakes erratically, the scene quickly moving from a still shot of the ceiling to Finn’s face again.

“ I might need to take this one to the bathroom.”

“ Maker. This is starting to feel like high school.”

A knock on the door and the two freeze. Poe looks up at his door and sighs.

“ It’s my door.” He stands up and Finn can’t see anything but Poe’s legs. “ I’ll be back.”

Poe walks over to the door and quickly unlocks it. He slowly opens the door to a slight opening that he could poke his head out of.

“ Oh. Hi Rey.” He rests his head against the doorframe. “ What’s up?”

Rey looks at Poe and raises an eyebrow. “ Am I interrupting something…?”

Poe wants to reply with: _Yeah, I’m trying to masturbate with my boyfriend on video chat like a pathetic idiot_ but, instead, says: “ No. Nope… You are totally not interrupting anything.”

“ I need some advice.”

“ I would hopefully have said advice.”

“ Ben.”

“ Ben Organa-Solo. Yes. What about him?”

“ Should I go out and have drinks with him.” Poe looks at Rey. She’s still in her uniform. They’ve been at the hotel for at least an hour and she’s still in her uniform. He shifts and rests a hand on the side of the door.

“ I’m sure he isn’t a stalker. He won’t kidnap you.” He pauses for a moment. “ It would do us all a favor if you two could talk out whatever problems you guys have.”

“ Problems? We may disagree but there are most definitely no _problems--_ ”

“ Just have the drinks, Rey.” He taps on the door with his index finger a little impatiently. “ So, anything else?”

“ You sure you’re not busy…?”

“ I’m going to take that as a no and wish you a wonderful night with Mister Solo. Please, give me all the details tomorrow morning.” Poe quickly shuts the door leaving a speechless Rey standing in front of the door in disbelief. The door opens again.  “ Good night!”

The door shuts again and the locks could be heard. Rey blinks and takes a step back. She looks at Poe’s door one last time before slowly returning to her room.

That was certainly weird.

 

***

 

Ben is lying on his bed. The television is on but it’s just background noise -- something about a festival or beach party starting later in the week. Free admission for kids under seven. Apparently some local band called Kanjiklub are going to perform. He rolls over onto his side and picks up his smartphone. There’s a few text messages from Hux, mostly the usual complaints about anything and everything, a random one from Poe with a series of emojis that he honestly couldn’t make sense of if he tried, and two from Phasma about the girl.

The only one who knew anything about Ben’s situation with Rey was Phasma. She was the only one he knew who wouldn’t kiss and tell his secrets to the entire company. While Hux was a friend, he wasn’t the most trustworthy of friends. There was always an ulterior motive behind his actions; even if Ben were to enter a relationship with him, Hux probably would have undercutted him for a promotion or tossed him to the dogs to save his own reputation.

That was just the makeup of their relationship. If one had something the other wanted, they knew what they had to do to get it.

Phasma was different.

 _Did you fix the problem?_ She wrote. _I do not believe she holds anything against you. I believe you can make some sort of amends with her._

Ben presses the home button on his phone, not bothering to reply. It was nearly 11:30 and there was still no text from Rey. If there wasn’t a message sent by now he doubted she would be sending one any time soon. He takes off his tie, throwing it somewhere in the room. It doesn’t get far, landing somewhere on the queen size bed instead like confetti.

He stands up and puts the phone back down on the bedside table. He stretches and starts to unbutton his white dress shirt.

 _Ding_.

His phone rings. He quickly picks it up and looks at the locked screen. One notification -- a text from Rey. He swipes left with his thumb, quickly inputs his password, and the screen reveals a simple one-line message: _Meet me at Maz. I’m here._

Ben stares at the message. This actually was happening.

He pockets the phone, grabs his room key, and quickly heads out the room.

 

***

 

It doesn’t take long to reach Maz’s Cantina. It’s about two blocks away, sitting on the beach. It was a large establishment open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It attracted everyone; tourists, locals, the bad and the good. Everyone was welcomed as long as they didn’t bring their drama with them.

Ben enters the establishment, completely flushed from running over. His shirt is still half buttoned, revealing his white undershirt that stuck to his skin from the sweating. His hair was undone, thick locks of black curls sticking to his face and neck. A waitress, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt that simply said _Maz’s_ on it, approaches him.

“ How many?” She asks. He looks around the cantina for Rey.

“ I’m looking for someone.” He says. He holds his hand up to about his shoulder. “ She’s about this tall… Brown hair. I don’t know what she’s wearing but she got here like fifteen minutes ago.”

The waitress eyes him warily but nods anyway. “ I think I know who you’re talking about… Coruscant accent?”

“ Yes! That’s her.”

“ She’s sitting over there.” The waitress points to a far off corner. “ With Maz.”

Ben goes cold. Maz was actually here. He thanks the girl and slowly approaches the table, almost to a creep. It’s a vain attempt because, despite the old woman’s age, Maz’s perception was as sharp as ever.

“ Ben Solo!” She greets boisterously with a grin. She nearly hops out of the chair and stands right front of Ben. She’s short; barely reaches Ben’s hips, but she commands the entire room. Its impressive… She could see why his father was friends with this old timer. Maz adjusts her thick glasses on her face as she looks up at him.

Ben knows she’s trying to read him.

“ You haven’t changed.” She says lamely. “ Just as dumb as your father.”

His eye twitches. “ Why, nice to meet you too, Maz.”

“ I see you like breaking girls hearts. If there was one thing your father shouldn’t have passed on to you… it was that.”

The truth hurts, doesn’t it? Ben pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath to control his nerves. He honestly respected this bespectacled woman but sometimes her tongue got the worst of him. Ben looks at Rey, but she’s focused on her phone. Judging by her expression, it was clear that she spilled her heart out to the old woman and was playing off like she had nothing to do with this current scolding.

“ What did you tell her, Rey?”

She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly and picks a cherry from the fruit bowl at the center of the table. Maz pats Ben on the stomach ever so lightly.

“ That’s not how you handle a situation like _this_ one, boy.” She steps around Ben and starts to walk away. “ I’ll have some drinks sent over. Looks like you’ll need it. Don’t destroy anything or I’ll have your airline pay for it!”

Ben sits in the chair that was previously occupied by Maz. He pulls the chair forward and takes out his phone. He places it on top of the table.

“ So…”

Rey takes another cherry. “ If that’s how you’re going to start this conversation, I could just go back to the hotel and talk to the wall.” She plops the fruit into her mouth and starts chewing while swiping and tapping on her phone.

Ben rolled his eyes. “ Why are you so difficult?”

“ Because you think everything should just come easy for you. I like to make things hard for people like you.”

Her eyes never leave the phone.

“ Things don’t come easy for me.” She doesn’t respond and Ben reaches out and takes the phone from her hands.

“ Hey!”

“ I’m trying to act civil here and you’re being a little girl.” He looks at what was occupying her attention. “ Honestly? Candy Crush?” He hits the power button and shoves the phone in his pocket.

“ Give it back.”

“ No.” He takes his phone off the table before she could snatch it. “ You’re not getting my phone either. So let’s talk.”

Rey frowns. “ I know you manipulated the schedule. What did you have to do to make that happen?”

“ I didn’t offer any sexual favors if that’s what you’re thinking.” He takes a cheese cube. “ I had Hux do me a favor as a friend.”

“ Okay. Niima wasn’t by chance either. How did that happen?”

Ben plops the cheese cube into his mouth. A few chews, then, “ Hux.”

Rey is in disbelief. She runs a hand through her hair. It was loose, he realized, falling freely down to her shoulders in loose waves.

“ Are you fucking kidding? Is this some sort of sick game? Are you stalking me or something?”

Ben looks like he’s offended. “ No, I’m not. I’m actually trying to fix something here but that’s hard to do when something you want to fix keeps running away.”

“ Maybe that something doesn't want to get fixed.”

Ben rests an arm on the table and leans forward.

“ This is why we have arguments. Because you can absolutely be such a _bitch_.” He says lowly, enough so she could hear. She gasps and leans forward herself.

“ Says the _fuckboy_ who thought he could just weasel his way in between my legs because daddy is the CEO of the company.”

Ben leans back in his chair and throws his hands up.

“ I can’t…! This was a bad idea.” He draws an invisible circle between the both of them. “ All this here is just a big mistake.”

The same waitress from earlier puts a bottle of scotch down on the table next to the fruit platter. She puts two glasses down on the table and then leaves without saying a word. Rey eyes the bottle. The two of them sit in silence.

“ Fucking hell.” Ben grumbles as he takes the bottle of scotch. He screws the top off and pours a bit of the drink in both glasses. He puts the bottle down and hands Rey her glass. He takes his own and brings the glass to his lips. “ To fucked up relationships.” He salutes before downing the strong liquor in one gulp.

Rey slowly picks up the glass and brings it to her lips. Wordlessly, she finishes the serving of scotch.

“ Why.” She whispers, the glass still in her hand. Ben looks at her and raises an eyebrow.

“ Why what?”

“ Why… why me?” She’s looking away, not at him, but not at anything in particular. “ Why did we do it…?”

“ Why did we sleep together?” He reaches for the bottle of liquor. “ Because we were attracted to each other.” He pours himself another serving. He gently takes Rey’s glass from her hands and puts it down on the table. He refills her glass.

“ No. That’s not why.”

Ben scoffs as he brings his glass to lips. “ People who are attracted to each other have sex. It’s biology.”

“ You’re lying.”

A sip. “ You’re in denial so we’re both even.”

Ben puts his glass down on the table and begins to unbutton the cuffs of his dress shirt. It was getting too hot in that small corner they were sitting at. Maz’s bar didn’t have air conditioning. It was completely opened air, relying on the ocean breeze to keep things cool. But it didn’t matter when these two were stuck in a windowless corner. He rolls up his sleeves and rests one arm on the table, the other in his lap.

“ You weren’t some conquest,” Ben finally says after a few moments of silence. “ I… genuinely felt-fell… in love with you.”  His voice lacks all the confidence. He’s uncertain, rubbing his thumb and index finger together absentmindedly. “ I fell in love with your tenacity… the way you always rose to the challenge… You were different. Unique. It made me want to be better.”

Rey is still silent but he continues.

“ I didn’t… I didn’t sleep with you because I viewed you like some notch on my wall. I wanted to pursue a relationship with you but for some reason you--”

“ You don’t get it, do you?” Rey cuts him off. She’s looking directly at him this time.

He notices that she hadn’t bother to take off her uniform either. She wasn’t wearing the jacket or neckscarf; she was only in the white uniformed issued blouse and navy skirt. She was just on edge about this meeting as he was. To any bystander, they simply looked like two businesspeople having drinks after a day of meetings. Not a couple of flight attendants having relationship problems.

“ What don’t I get?” Ben asks coolly. Rey crosses her legs and leans into the chair.

“ I’m not from some high place in the company. I’m not rich; I don’t come from money. I’m some orphan who got shipped from house to house until I was too old to go anywhere else and got stuck at a junkyard. So what does it mean when I decide to sleep with the son of the CEO? It shows that I’m nothing more than a gold digger.”

Ben wants to say something but he decides to stay quiet and listen.

“ It only proves the stereotype that those who become FAs are only there to meet a rich guy and get married. I was just about to graduate training and here I am sleeping around with you. _My trainer_! Maker, what would have happened if word got out?! I would have been let go on the spot.”

“ I wouldn’t have let that happen….”

“ I doubt it.” Rey spits. “ My career would have went to shit in a matter of moments. Conflict of interest and all of that mess. I needed to get away and you were that road block.”

“ Employees sleep with each other all the time. Here, there… Everywhere.”

“ You were my trainer.”

“ And? No one had to know.” He laughs bitterly. “ Even as we speak, no one knows about whatever we had. You’re just overreacting over _nothing_.”

Ben runs his hands through his hair and lets out a frustrated yell. Rey is startled but she doesn’t move from where she’s sitting. He gets up from his chair and finishes his glass of scotch. Ben walks to the other side of the table and grabs Rey by her upper arm.

“ Get up.”

“ What the hell, Ben.” Rey tries to shrug out of his grasp but he only grips onto harder.

“ Get up or I’ll force you up.”

Rey narrows her eyes at him and stands up. He lets her arm go and instead holds her hand.

“ Let go of my hand.” She says coolly. He ignores her and begins to lead them out of the cantina. Maz watches to two leave from her place behind the bar and smiles to herself. She’ll just get the tab from his father.

 

Rey feels like Ben is dragging her down the street. She can’t keep up with his fast paced walking; nearly stumbling over herself a few times. He doesn’t stop until they’re in front of the hotel. Rey pulls her hand out of grasp and puts her hands on her hips, glaring at him. He turns around to face her.

Rey had never seen this side of him before. Ben looks wild, passionate. He’s frustrated and it shows in the way he’s standing in front of her. He’s looking at her with determined eyes, breathing heavily as his fingers are curled into fists at his side. Rey opens her mouth but nothing comes out so she shuts it and lets her hands fall to her side. Then, she manages to say something.

“ What.” It’s simple but tense. He nods over to the hotel. Rey mimics him. “ What does _this_ mean, Ben?”

“ It means I want to fucking end this stupid childish game. I want to fuck you, Rey. I want to _make love_ to you. And because I am not some _fuckboy_ I’m giving you the choice. Either we walk in there together and try to make this shit work or we go our separate ways. I’ll leave you alone and you’ll leave me alone and we’ll act like none of this shit ever happened.”

The words fly from his lips in a rush of pent of emotions that had finally breached a dam. His heart is racing and he can feel the blood pulsing in his ears to an almost deafening level. But he waits for her. He waits for her answer. Ben is pretty sure that he’ll always be waiting.

Rey takes a step forward. Then another. She takes one more step until the distance is closed between them. Hesitantly she reaches up and places a hand atop of his chest, over his heart. He’s so warm… almost burning. His body is soaked with sweat but it doesn’t bother her. She leans upwards, enough so her lips can brush over his.

She doesn’t know what to say. She was never good with words, with explaining herself. She was always the oddball, the social outcast. Getting close to others and having them in her personal circle was always difficult for her. Perhaps it was due to never having a family -- never being in one place long enough to establish herself.

So she responds in the best way she can. A kiss.

“ Let’s go.” She says against his lips.

It undoes him.

He grabs her hand and they enter the lobby. They ignore the guests and hotel workers that eye them with intrigue and confusion. They’re in their own little world at this point. Ben practically punches the up button for the elevator. When the doors open they rush inside and he’s repeatedly pressing the _door close_ button until the double doors start to close. He hits the button for the sixteenth floor.

The moment the doors finally seal shut and the elevator begins to move Ben presses Rey up against the cold metal surface of the elevator wall behind them. His lips are upon hers before she can even breath. He begins to kiss her cheek, her nose, the side of her lips… He’s kissing her as if she was water in the desert. Like he was finally satisfying a thirst he never knew he had.

He kisses her between the junction of her jaw and her neck and slightly sucks there. Rey squirms beneath him, her hands pressed against the back of the elevator for support. They slide ever so slightly and she pushes herself up against him, grinding against his body in an attempt to satisfy the throbbing between her legs. His lips trail down her neck in a flurry of kisses and nips. He bites down on the junction between her shoulder and neck and Rey nearly loses her balance.

He wraps an arm around her waist to support her body, pulling her up and closer to him. He sucks at the spot and Rey moans as she wraps an arm around his larger frame, fingers weaving through his long hair at the base of his nape.

The elevator reaches it’s destination with a _ding_. The doors swing open and the two reluctantly separate. They step out of the elevator, well, Ben is walking out backwards while Rey is walking forward as they continue to kiss each other. Ben breaks the kiss and reaches into his pocket for his room key.

“ Room.” He says as he holds up the key card between them. Rey takes the key card and kisses him.

“ What room?” She asks against his lips. Ben takes the key card back.

“ 1608.” He says with a smile. She steps away and looks at the floor directory. Rooms 1601 through 1620 were located in the left wing according to the directory. She gives him one more look before she runs in that direction. Ben rolls his eyes and chases after her.

She doesn’t make it far before Ben wraps his arms around her waist from behind. She nearly screams and giggles from the assault as he lifts her up. She’s laughing as she kicks away and Ben’s heart swells. He hasn’t heard those sounds of laughter from her in _years_. He puts her down and they walk over two more doors to his room. He swipes the key card against the electronic lock and the indicator turns green.

He opens the door and let’s Rey step into the room. She walks into the bedroom and Ben follows her in, the door shutting behind them with a click. He tosses the room key onto the chair that sat in the corner of the modest suite. Rey turns around and suddenly her heart is beating erratically.

This was it. There was no going back from this.

He steps forward as she reaches up to undo the buttons of her blouse. He closes the distance between them and puts his larger hands on top of hers, stopping her.

“ Are you sure?” He whispers. She looks at their hands together and then up at him.

“ I’m not really sure about anything right now.” Rey admits. “ But, I know that I need to stop running…” She moves their hands together, intertwining their fingers. “ I want to start over. I’m not really… good with relationships. But… I want to try it again….”

Ben brings their hands up to his lips and brushes a kiss ever so lightly on top of her fingers.

“ Let’s try this again then.” He says as he brings their hands down and releases them. He starts to slowly undo the buttons of her blouse. He tugs the soft cotton shirt up, untucking, and releases the final button. He pushes the garment off of her shoulders and it falls from her body to the floor. She’s standing before him in nothing but a plain white bra.

“ Sorry, I don’t usually lace it up for work.” She says sarcastically. Ben just rolls his eyes and kisses her.

Rey reaches up with her hands to unbutton the rest of Ben’s shirt as they walk back towards his bed. The back of her knees hit the mattress and she falls backward, her back hitting the scratchy surface of the oddly patterned comforter. She scoots up onto the mattress to get a better view of Ben. He shrugs out of the shirt and it falls to the ground. He then takes off the white undershirt, tossing it somewhere in the room.

She licks her lips. She would have dreams about this sight before her. He was so defined; he wasn’t as defined as an Adonis statue but it was impressive. Broad chest, thick biceps, strong arms, a flat stomach... Rey had _missed_ this. Ben slowly undoes his belt, all the while looking directly at her, as he moves onto the button of his pants. Rey licks her lips in anticipation as she props herself up on her elbows. He unzips his pants and crawls onto the bed.

Ben traps her beneath his larger body as his elbows rest on either side of her. She brings a hand to his chest, fingertips lightly ghosting against the skin. He shivers slightly from the contact as she traces lines between the beauty marks and freckles across his skin. Ben kisses her again and she opens her mouth ever so slightly, allowing him to deepen the kiss.

She tastes like scotch and cherries. It’s an odd mixture but pleasing to Ben as he explores her mouth. His missed this and he feels like he’s going to drown in her.

Rey moves her hand lower, grazing his skin, as she reaches edge of his pants. She pushes her hand further down, until her fingertips meet the cotton of his boxer shorts. Ben breaks the kiss and buries his face inbetween her neck and shoulder once he feels her fingers against his member. It’s like she’s testing the waters; she gently wraps her fingers around his hardening member and then strokes ever so slightly.

“ D-don’t…” He strains against her shoulder. “ I’m not gonna make it.”

Rey strokes him again, “ I wanna make you feel good.”

He lifts his head up and looks at her, “ It’s been six years since we’ve done this. I wanna make this last longer than three minutes.” Rey pulls her hand away and snorts.

“ Fair enough.”

Ben pulls away and stands up. His pants are hanging low off of his hips and Rey lifts a leg up, pressing the heel of her shoe into his crotch. Ben grabs her foot and lifts her leg up higher. She squeals as he pulls her closer to the edge of the bed. He takes off the shoe, tossing it somewhere. Rey figures by the next morning it's going to be a problem to find their clothes with them strewn all over the place.

Rey lifts her other leg and he grabs the ankle, taking off the other shoe. Rey thinks this one landed near the door, but she’s not too sure. He lets her leg go and she sits up.

“ Take off your skirt.” He says. Rey complies, standing up and unzipping the skirt from the back. She pushes the skirt down, off of her hips, and lets the garment pool at her feet. “ Do you need those stockings?”

Rey raises an eyebrow. “ No. Why?” She laughs. “ That’s an odd question to be asking right now?”

Ben doesn’t bother to answer her. Instead, he reaches for the elastic band of the black stockings and rips them. Rey gasps as the delicate fabric easily rips at the seams. He pulls the tattered object off of her body.

“ Maker, Ben! Those were expensive!” Rey yells.

“ You can always buy a new pair.” He says lamely as he takes off his pants. He takes off his socks and it’s honestly not the sexiest thing she’s ever seen him done. But having sex with someone wearing black dress socks was worst so she lets the moment pass with a roll of her eyes.

“ I want you to undress me.” Rey says as she sits down on the bed.

“ Okay?” Ben watches as she moves closer into the center of the bed, her feet dangling from the edge of the queen size mattress. “ Bottom or top.”

“ I’m gonna let you decide. Just make me feel good.”

“ Come closer.” He says. She does as she’s told, scooting closer to the edge of the bed. “ Closer.”

Rey moves a bit more, until she can feel the edge of the bed press against her backside. He reaches for her black panties and pulls them down. She raises her hips to help him. She feels the fabric slide down her legs and to her feet before they're dropped unceremoniously to the floor. Ben gets down onto his knees and hooks his arms around her legs, spreading her open to him. She bites her lips the moment she feels the cold air against her wet cunt.

He kisses the inside of her thigh and it makes the woman shiver with each press of his lips that inch closer to the place she wants him the most. He releases her left leg, pushing it up and over his shoulder. He takes his free hand and spreads her lips apart experimentally. Rey moves ever so slightly in anticipation. She doesn’t want him having a moment of nostalgia; she wants his mouth _there_ sucking and licking, driving her mad and to the edge.

He brushes his lips against her core and darts his tongue out, tasting her ever so slightly and Rey sighs. Again, he does it and Rey palms her breast through her bra. She’s missed this from him. She had had many partners throughout the years but this was what she wanted. None of them were the same. Cheap imitations to get her through the moments when she needed to feel that fleeting satisfaction.  He inserts a finger inside of her and then a second one, pumping slowly at first and then gradually faster as he grew bolder with his mouth on her clit.

Rey’s heart gradually beats faster as she feels herself coming closer and closer to the edge. She grinds herself against his face and he releases her other leg to hold her steady, pushing down on her pelvis. He nips ever so slightly as his fingers curl inside of her in an attempt to find that one spot that would send her over the edge. He pulls away from her cunt and stands up. Rey slightly sits up and looks up at him, face flushed as he wipes his mouth of her essence.

“ What… Why’d you…” Her breathing is ragged and he leans forward, resting one knee to support his weight on the bed. He brushes his lips against her ear.

“ Come for me.” He growls as he inserts a third finger into her sloppy, wet entrance. He begins to pump his fingers in and out of her as his thumb ran circles against her engorged clit. She clings onto him, grinding against his hand. Rey feels like she’s almost there… She just needs that push, that one push over the edge to break her.

He palms her, curling his fingers and pushing against that spot inside. Rey grinds down on him and she breaks as she comes, her body shaking. He can feel the way her walls contract against his fingers from her orgasm. He can feel her pulsing against his hand and he gives her a two more strokes before pulling his cum soaked fingers from her. Rey falls back down onto the bed, her chest rising with each heavy breath she took.

Ben crawls on top of the bed, bringing his fingers to her mouth. Rey runs her tongue along the long fingers before taking them into her mouth. She sucks on his fingers while looking directly at him. He pulls his fingers free and kisses her aggressively, his tongue exploring her mouth. She can taste herself on his lips and tongue and it drives her crazy.

Ben palms Rey’s side, his hand ghosting over her ribs and then over her bra. He pushes the bra over her breast, palming the soft small mound. He kneads it, occasionally pinching and pulling at the puckered nipple. Rey moans against his mouth. This was becoming too much -- her body felt overwhelmed but she couldn’t help but want more. She wanted to be reduced to nothing. He pulls away, breaking the kiss and sits up.

“ You’re so beautiful…” He says and Rey snorts.

“ Really?” She rested a hand on her stomach and laughs. “ This is beautiful? One breast hanging out, the other not?”

Ben removes the final article of his clothes off of his body and Rey bites her lower lip. _Yes_ . She had missed him -- missed _this_.

“ You could be wearing granny panties and I’d still find you sexy.” He says as he crawls back on the bed. He takes one hand to spread her legs open, the other stroking himself. Rey wraps a leg around his hip, pressing the heel of her foot against the small of his back.

“ Please, don’t kill the mood.” She mumbles as she feels the tip of his dick press against her wet entrance.

“ I wouldn’t dare.”

He thrusts up into her and whatever Rey wanted to say at that moment was lost with a simple gasp. Despite the foreplay, it still caught her by surprise. The sudden intrusion was slightly uncomfortable for her as she tried to accommodate for his large size. Toys, at the end of the day, could not compare for the real thing. She bites her lips as she tries to adjust her body, her right leg spreading further as her left hiked up higher on his back.

Ben pulls out slightly, “ You okay?” He whispers in a half strain. Rey nods slowly.

“ Just get on with it,” She whispers as she wraps her left hand around his neck, fingers playing with his hair at the nape. The other held onto his bicep. “ I’ve waited too long for this.”

Ben thrusts again and Rey sighs. Yes, she’s waited way too long for this. He rolls her hips into her and she meets him with each thrust, trying to feel that friction that would send her over the edge again. Ben pushes her bra up completely, both breasts now free. He palms one as his face dips low to her neck, kissing and sucking at the pulse. The sensation driving Rey mad from the stimulation.

She draws her right leg up, wrapping both legs around his waist, using the heel of her feet to press against his lower back in some attempt to encourage him to press deeper into her.

“ I want to feel you completely, Ben…” She moans. He thrusts deeper into her and hits that spot that makes her feet curl and back arch up into him. “ Yes…! Oh… Maker… That’s it!”

Ben captures her lips in another kiss, but it’s sloppy as his pace increases with each thrust as he tries to tip over the edge. The finesse is gone at this point; it’s just a mess of tongues and lips between moans and grunts. The vulgar sound of their wet skin slapping against each other is a sharp contrast to the commercial advertising a family dinner where kids under the age of twelve could eat free.

Ben pulls Rey up with him as he flips their position into a sitting one. They’re both looking at each other; his eyes filled with so much intensity as he thrusts up into her. She rubs and ruts against him as she palms a breast, teasing the nipple to push her further to breaking.

“ Come for me, Ben…” Rey whines as she throws her head back, each roll of her hips matching his now increasing erratic thrusts.

“ Rey… “ He groans out. It's not soon before he releases himself inside her tight passage, Rey gasping as she feels his warm seed spill inside of her. He falls back onto the bed as Rey straddles him, milking every bit from him. She brings a hand between between her legs, rubbing her clit until she comes undone, falling over as her body throbs from her second release, her cunt pulsating around Ben’s spent dick.

She slides off of him, the feeling of him sliding out of her sad but satisfying all at the same time. Rey lies next to him, the feeling of their mixed body fluids between her legs slightly strange. She’s been on the pill for years but she never had sex without protection. The feeling is definitely foreign to her but she decides she can deal with it for now. A shower was due, though.

“  I… think I like this.” Rey says as she brushes a few strands of black hair away from Ben’s forehead. He snorts.

“ You’re not going to run away freaking out tomorrow like last time?”

“ No. I think I’d like to continue doing this.” She looks at his profile, taking him in as if she’s trying to burn this moment into her memory. “ Did you really mean what you said?”

He lulls his head in her direction, “ What did I say?”

“ You loved me.”

Ben smiles. “ Yeah, I think I meant it.”

Rey frowns and shoves him. He laughs and she shoves him again. “ You little shit!”

She gets up from the bed and takes off her mangled bra. She tosses it somewhere in the room and storms off to the bathroom. Ben jumps off the bed and wraps his hand around her waist, pulling her flush against him. He buries his face into her hair at the crown of her head, breathing her in.

“ I love you.” She smiles, but he can’t see it. She feels this warm radiate from within her body and for some reason it's like all the weight from the world had just been lifted from her shoulders. Rey leans into him.

“ I know.” She says.

  


***

  


It was rare to see the CEO of Republic Airlines at Niima International Airport. The airport was such an eyesore to the airline that the last time they got new ground equipment was over fifteen years ago. So when the silver-haired man sporting a leather bomber jacket over a white dress shirt and silver tie with black dress pants enters the crew room, everyone is in complete shock. Something was going on at Niima for him to make a sudden appearance without warning.

Finn nearly chokes on his can of coke.

“ Mister Solo!” The young pilot stammers out as he springs from his chair. He stands at attention but Han Solo merely laughs, waving him away.

“ Settle down, kid. I’m not that special.” He says as he walks past him, patting him on the shoulder. “ Just looking for my son.”

Finn turns around and points towards the direction of the Operations Room.

“ I think he’s over in operations.”

“ Thanks!” He yells over his shoulder as he walks over to Operations.

Poe steps into the crew room from the ramp and takes out his earplugs. He looks around the crew room at the shock faces at the various in flight crew members and walks over to Finn. He crosses his arms and nods his head over in the direction of the shocked employees.

“ What’s going on?” He asks.

“ CEO’s here.”

Poe whistles. “ Oh…”

It had been nearly two months since the initial trip to Takodana. Luckily, the service had been a success and the airline saw that it was worth making it a daily service. This meant more flight attendants and flight crews were needed to be stationed at Niima, increasing the seniority pool at the base. This, of course, was not good news for Finn who, prior to the change, was able to at least selection _one_ good line a month.

But Poe cared for him and would trade his lines with other pilots just so he could work with Finn. Even if they were bottom of the barrel commuter flights between D’Qar and Niima.

Rey and Ben were currently in the Operations Room discussing the OJT schedule for the new group of flight attendants that were going to arrive at Niima. No one knew what had happened during that initial trip to Takodana but whatever that did happened was for the best. There wasn’t any more arguments or explosions of temper since then. In fact the two seemed a lot closer than they were before.

But if anyone was to pay attention to the stolen glances, the hidden touches, or the random disappearances in-between flights and connect the dots they would know that the two most senior ranked flight attendants at Niima were more than just amicable friends. It was something Rey had hoped Amanda would figure out. But, alas, she still had her heart set on getting that date with Ben.

Poor girl, indeed.

“ Ah, there you are.” Han says as he walks into Operations. Ben freezes and Rey turns around, eyes going wide.

“ Mister Solo!” She says, standing up immediately. He chuckles as he approaches the table.

“ No, no. Sit down. I think you might want to after I break the news to my son here.”

Ben frowns at his father. “ What is it?”

Han wordlessly puts a small white sheet of paper on top of the table. He slides it towards Ben and he clears his throat.

“ A gift from Maz.” He pauses. “ Actually it's a gift from me. But it started with Maz.”

Ben hesitantly takes the paper and turns it over. It was a bill. An expensive bill. He slams the paper back down on the table.

“ Are you kidding me.” It’s not a question it's a statement. Han shrugs.

“ She sent the airline a bill for the tab you and your lovely girlfriend racked up at her cantina. We, of course, paid for it. But I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be deducting the amount of this bill from your paycheck in two installments to cover the costs of the bill.”

“ It was just a bottle of scotch and some fruit!” Ben yells but Han just laughs.

“ A really old bottle of top-shelf scotch where a single glass costs 28 dollars. You guys had four, or five. Looks like five. The fruit platter was almost 150.”

Ben looks directly at Rey but she holds her hands up in defense.

“ I honestly didn’t know.” She says. “ Besides, you’re rich. This is probably a drop in the bucket.”

Han pats his son on the shoulder. “ Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t want to do this. It was your mother.” He crosses his arms and grins. “ We’re back together, by the way.”

Ben groans into his hands. Honestly, sometimes he questioned why he transferred all the way to Niima when he had such a nice life over at Coruscant. It’s when he catches Rey’s smile that he thinks that it all was worth it.

Even if it ended up costing nearly 300 dollars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooohhhhhh myyyyy ggggaaawwwwddddd. this was a beast. a 50 page beast. but it was well worth it BECAUSE ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS <3 <3 <3 THANK YOU SO MUCH!! omg i would sit, as i edited this one-shot down, with this stupid silly grin on my face every time i got an email with your sweet reviews. you guys are amazing. this fandom is so amazing. i wanna cry.
> 
> i haven't written smut in so long. it's hard. smut writing is hard. i'll just leave it there. 
> 
> so this is where the story ends. i don't know if i'll expand on this universe but for now i'll just leave it here. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING caps lock.


End file.
